Mr Donovan creates some beautifully distinctive Steampunk lamps, which we’ve seen before, laden with brass mesh, naked lightbulbs and curled ornate metals. He is also the very fortunate (and hard working) curator of the upcoming Steampunk Exhibition being held in Bridgehampton, New York next month!

As you can see from the list above, there are some very well loved members of the Steampunk community involved and I think it’d be utterly wonderful to see a whole exhibition devoted to the art and design of some of these very inspiring people.

So, if you can manage to get to Bridgehampton, NY, some time between the 16th and the 24th of August, then perhaps you’ll find yourself surrounded by works of art and engineering in a concentrated bubble of Steampunk. And if you do – please let me know all about it!

We have known since 1862 (thank you James Glaisher) that high altitude was a cold place to be, and no Steampunk explorer worth their salt hasn’t considered the arctic, the antactic and the peaks of mountains a challenging place to go, (not to mention hunting down the 1930’s Shangri-La) but in places such as these, perhaps your usual brass goggles are not quite up to the task.

Enter Mr Rice, engineer, and his brass snow goggles with optional attenuators (shown in the up-position above). With thin slits to prevent against snow blindness, as might be seen in traditional snow goggles, these handsome and comfortable looking alternatives could probably be used for signalling too! In unrelated news, the inuit also had some rather impressive snow goggles too. Very nicely done, Mr Rice.

Our talented friend, Sillof (he of the impressive action-figure re-imagining) has taken his previous efforts in creating Star Wars as if it were Steampunk, and lovingly applied it to the Empire Strikes Back entry in the series. Look here for ornately engraved snowtroopers, a dashingly dapper Mr Calrissian, and a hard on his luck out of work professor with a curious accent, who is short of stature and looking a little green these days! Still, I doubt I’d look as good when I get to be his age.

Over at the Rat Rod Bikes forum (which seems to have quite a few Steampunk bikes now), member Gaskill has created the above beautifully bewheeled septuacycle (seven wheels, if I’ve not miscounted) called The Rag And Bone. With what looks like a suspended amber headlamp, and to be honest, more wheels than three conventional bikes put together, it’s eye catching and delightful. Not sure how it’ll go over bumps, but I suppose you don’t really care if you have a bike like that! Thank you very much to Mr Danny, the Lobsterboy, for pointing it out.

Mr Lamb has informed me of his most interesting new journal, Strange Engines – a blog of the curious, surprising and downright unbelievable weapons and technology from the Civil War Era. Though a new site, the first page has already had me marvelling at the ingenuity of those souls – from steam guns to centrifugal cannons!

Most sound unbelievable, and there’s only the word of their creators (and thus salespeople) to go on, but it’s an facinating look at what was considered feasible, or desirable, in weapons at the time. Many thanks, and good luck, Mr Lamb!

Such a small image, but such a lovely resourse! Ms. Mathewson alerted me to the fact that icon site Icon Buffet recently included a Steampunk set of icons (seen above) in their series of themed sets! Having been a (free) member of Icon Buffet for years, I really ought to have known this, but it had escaped me!

I am not sure, however, if people who haven’t been members for a while will be able to get this set automatically on joining, or if Icon Buffet will be charging for it (but it is possibly the first set of icons I’d ever pay for, I admit) but they come in BMPs, GIFs, Mac ICNs, PNGs, TIFFs, and ones for MACOSX. I remember there being quite the drive to create a Steampunk computer theme – these would do wonderfully.

I seem to have 150 ‘stamps’ on Icon Buffet, which means if you sign up, and ‘friend’ me (Tinkergirl), I can send this out 30 times (5 stamps a pop). Please comment below to ‘reserve’ a send, first come, first served, though the first 30 people should be able to then send them on to others if they like! A big cascade of Steampunk icons. Thank you, Ms Mathewson!

A quick reminder (as I shall be travelling and preparing soon) that today is the day (the 7th) for getting yourself down to your nearest Telectroscope end (London or New York), encountering other Steampunk fans, and waving to those across the pond!

For those in the London area, remember that White Mischief – 80 Days Around The World event is on shortly afterwards and this would be the perfect start to a wonderful evening!

Arrive promptly on either end of the great trans-atlantic viewing tube, and the good people of the Telectroscope may well be able to get us to the front of the queue. (And if you see either of these dubious looking ladies, do say hello.)

A little while ago, Mike Thompson contacted me about an article for Ars Technica entitled “The Memories of Our Future” about the Steampunk genre in computer/video games, and I’m very pleased to see that the article has just appeared on the site and I share the honour of being interviewed with Mr Sanders of the Five Fists of Science and (the lovely) Mr Iversen of the Zeitguyz games company!

Touching on why Steampunk has taken a back seat in many games, and looking at why Steampunk games might be getting a lot more interest in the future, it’s a very nice article that I recommend taking a look at! It might not mention your own particular favourite Steampunk game, but feel free to mention them below. Thank you, Mike!

Mr Curtis of Ramshackle Games creates miniatures for the squad based tabletop game, Nuclear Renaissance. A post apocalyptic setting, Nuclear Renaissance has gangs and tribes of people of various styles – and some of them are wonderfully Steampunk. The most wonderful of these is the above “Isembard Kickass Brunel“, engineer without peer and visionary for a better post apocalyptic future of aquaducts, bridges and railways! (The real Isembard Kingdom Brunel was larger than life too!)

But there are problems, of course, and some people aren’t sitting idly by while Kickass-B rebuilds and so he needs to defend himself and his creations, using his giant mechanical Huntsman Spider Tank! Perhaps he’ll encounter the Society of Intrepid Explorers – the most interesting of which much surely be the top-hatted and knife handed Mr Sniketty and his scientist friend, Oliver Sprocket. Thank you Mr Curtis – better late than never!

This Sunday (25th of May) there is going to be a bit of a ‘perfect storm’ of Steampunk in LA – Abney Park (one of the best known Steampunk bands in existance) will be playing at The Edison bar (possibly the most beautiful Steampunk locale in the world) and are rumoured be accompanied by two of the brightest and best loved Steampunk creating celebrities around. (I’m not sure I’m allowed to mention who the gents are, but I know they’ll probably tell me off for calling them celebrities! Sorry, Sirs.) There’ll also be high-flying aerialists and the highly regarded DJ Imagika.

Abney Park, Live at The Edison, then – it sounds fantastic. I’m told there are still tickets to be had, and that it’ll be strictly age 21+ (that’s Earth years), and that this will hopefully be just one of many future Steampunk events held at The Edison in future. I know in previous posts we’ve wondered if the clientele at The Edison could be as wonderful to look at as the event, but I can very quickly cast that doubt aside knowing the lineup as I now do! To those who go – I am quite envious, please report back and do take photies!